Related papers: The Dynamical and Chemical Evolution of Dwarf Sphe…
We present new constraints on the density profiles of dark matter (DM) halos in seven nearby dwarf galaxies from measurements of their integrated stellar light and gas kinematics. The gas kinematics of low mass galaxies frequently suggest…
The formation of tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs) is triggered by the encounters of already existing galaxies. Their existence is predicted from numerical calculations of encountering galaxies and is also well documented with observations. The…
The stars in the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are significantly more metal-poor than would be expected from a closed box model of chemical evolution. Gas outflows likely carried away most of the metals…
We present the analysis of the FLAMES dataset targeting the central 25 arcmin region of the Sextans dSph. This dataset is the third major part of the high resolution spectroscopic section of the ESO large program 171.B-0588(A) obtained by…
We derive and analyse the star formation histories of 393 intermediate-redshift (0.1 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 0.9) galaxies with stellar masses between $\sim$10$^{8}$ - 10$^{12}$ M$_{\odot}$. We probe a cosmic time of approximately 6 Gyr and a range…
We investigate the chemical properties of local galaxies within a cosmological framework in the hierarchical picture of galaxy formation. To this aim, we use a hierarchical semi-analytic model which includes the contribution from (i) low…
It has been proposed that mergers induce starbursts and lead to important morphological changes in galaxies. Most studies so far have focused on large galaxies, but dwarfs might also experience such events, since the halo mass function is…
We present Halpha narrow-band imaging of 17 dwarf irregular galaxies (dIs) in the nearby Centaurus A Group. Although all large galaxies of the group have a current or recent enhanced star formation episode, the dIs have normal star…
Within the Local Universe galaxies can be studied in great detail star by star, and here we review the results of quantitative studies in nearby dwarf galaxies. The Color-Magnitude Diagram synthesis method is well established as the most…
We outline the results of a study of the chemical composition of 14 stars in the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph). For the Sgr dSph stars with [Fe/H]>-1 the abundances are highly unusual, showing a striking enhancement in…
The star formation rate - stellar mass relation (SFR-M*) and its evolution (i.e., the SFR main sequence) describes the growth rate of galaxies of a given stellar mass and at a given redshift. Assuming that present-day star-forming galaxies…
We study a sample of nearby (z~0.2) low-luminosity dwarf (10^7 MSun < M* < 10^8 MSun) galaxies which have extreme (0.1 - 3 MSun/yr) star formation rates (SFRs) for this mass regime, making them plausible analogues of dwarfs at z~5.5. We…
We investigate the claim that all dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) reside within halos that share a common, universal mass profile as has been derived for dSphs of the Galaxy. By folding in kinematic information for 25 Andromeda dSphs,…
We present evidence that nearly half of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph and dSph/dIrr) in the Local Group are associated with large reservoirs of atomic gas, in some cases larger than the stellar mass. The gas is sometimes found at…
We propose that detailed data on the star formation history of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) may be used to estimate the evolution of the total mass M_g(t) for cold gas in its star-forming disk. Using Fornax as an illustrative example,…
We discuss how knowledge of the whole evolutionary history of dwarf galaxies, including details on the early star formation events, can provide insight on the origin of the different dwarf galaxy types. We suggest that these types may be…
We compare chemical abundances of Local Group dwarf spheroidals, obtained from recent UVES/VLT observations, and of high redshift Damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs), corrected for dust effects. We focus, in particular, on the abundance ratio…
We report preliminary results of a project to homogeneously measure star formation histories for the majority of Local Group dwarf galaxies, based on archival WFPC2 observations. For the dwarf spheroidal and elliptical galaxies, we find…
We present high-resolution N-body/hydrodynamics simulations of dwarf galaxies formed in isolated CDM halos with the same virial mass, Mv~2.5x10^10 Msun at z=0, in order to (1) study the mass assembly histories (MAHs) of the halo, stars, and…
We discuss the role of environmental mechanisms in the evolution of dwarf galaxy satellites using high-resolution N-Body+SPH simulations that include simultaneously tidal forces, ram pressure and heating from ionizing radiation fields.…